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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve acknowledged Wednesday that the economy is growing more slowly than it expected. But it said it will complete its $600 billion Treasury bond buying program by June 30 as planned and announced no further efforts to boost the economy.
Ending a two-day meeting, the Fed repeated a pledge to keep interest rates at record lows near zero for "an extended period," a promise it's made for more than two years.

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Airbus racked up huge orders for its fuel-saving A320neo jetliner on Wednesday, even bagging the biggest single sale in aviation history, and overshadowing the arrival of Boeing's much-hyped and much-delayed 787 Dreamliner at the Paris Air Show.
As airlines around the world worry about skyrocketing fuel prices, demand has surged for low-consumption planes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials say the latest data on silicone breast implants show they are relatively safe, despite frequent complications that lead about one in five women to have the implants removed within ten years.
A Food and Drug Administration report issued Wednesday is the agency's first safety assessment of the implants since regulators returned them to the market in 2006.

Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, talks to Jorge Ribas about the technology's risks and benefits. As with any new technology, it could be revolutionary. According to Maynard, it could make just about every one of our current technologies better. At the same time, there is the potential for major pollution issues, and the use of nano silver to kill microbes could cause untold damage in our oceans and our bodies.

CNN 's Errol Barnett talks to The New Yorker senior editor Nicholas Thompson about an online plot called "Anti-Security," which aims to take down government and banking institutions. Thompson says that it's better these groups, which include LulzSec and Anonymous, are taking on big websites, and not the credit cards of everyday people.

Bob Lutz, the author of “Car Guys vs. Bean Counters,” recounts some of his favorite cars over the years. To give him credit, he has a wide range of tastes, from the orginal BMW 3-Series, all the way through the current Chevy Malibu. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to mention that he helped design these cars as well.

Here, the Engineer Guy uses propylene glycol to show how a fiber optic cable works when sending signals across the ocean. They rely on a phenomenon called “total internal reflection,” which allows the beam of light to continuously reflect on the interior of the cable. This small discovery, combined with some engineering prowess, allows telecoms to lay these tiny lines under the ocean to enable hyper-speed global communications.

As you've likely heard, the FDA has unveiled nine new graphic warning labels that hope to stop current smokers from partaking in their next pack, and discourage potential new smokers. So far, the response to the labels seems to be mixed.
What are your thoughts? Are they overbearing, or will they keep people from taking up smoking? Feel free to comment below.

At one time or another everyone has heard the mantra, “The customer is always right!” When a company is in the midst of a regulatory recall and its new “best friend” is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the company must clearly understand that the FDA is their customer AND it is imperative to get the recall “right.

BAODING, China (AP) — Solar panels jut out of streetlights in China's self-proclaimed Clean Energy City. Tiny wind turbines twirl atop public buildings. Schools are due to teach students about "green living."
In the scramble to profit from demand for clean energy, this city southwest of Beijing is promoting itself as a manufacturing center for solar, wind and other gear by transforming into a living showcase of environmental technology.

HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia Corp. said Wednesday it has completed a deal to outsource Symbian software development to Accenture, including the transfer of 2,800 workers to the global management-consulting firm.
The announcement came two months after Nokia disclosed the plan as part of its aim to cut costs by $1.

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Boeing will deliver the first of its much-delayed 787 wide-bodied jets to launch customer All Nippon Airways as early as August, officials said Wednesday.
At a joint ceremony at the Paris Air Show, the two companies showcased the new plane — known as the Dreamliner — saying it will allow airlines to open up a number of new long-haul routes.

CHICAGO (AP) — This is a dog fight Chicago will relish.
Vienna Beef, one of the world's most famous hot dog makers, is suing the owner of a rival hot dog company, accusing him of either stealing Vienna's 118-year-old recipe or lying to customers by claiming that he's using it.
The rival is none other than a grandson of one of the two men who founded the company after their hot dogs became a hit at the 1893 World's Fair.

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's flagship carrier Qantas said Wednesday it has reached a 95 million Australian dollar ($100 million) settlement with engine maker Rolls-Royce over last year's mid-air disintegration of a superjumbo engine, which temporarily forced the grounding of its entire fleet of A380s.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's pick to head the Commerce Department criticized a federal labor board's lawsuit against the Boeing Co. on Tuesday over the aerospace giant's decision to locate a new plant in South Carolina.
The nominee, John Bryson, recently stepped down from Boeing's board.

Business Continuity Management (BCM) has changed rapidly in recent years. Today, many BCM programs are a byproduct of enterprise risk management programs or part of customer-driven service level agreements. But BCM is still looking for a place to call home in many organizations, with BCM ownership all over the map.

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — The plane making one of the biggest splashes at the Paris Air Show carries a grand total of one person and is often delayed because there's too much wind or too little sun.
Andre Borschberg pilots the Solar Impulse, a prototype aircraft powered exclusively by sunlight.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Improved helmet design has helped reduce concussions in impact sports such as football and hockey, but it may be impossible to design a helmet that completely eliminates them, according to a panel of sports science professors outlining the latest findings.
Helmets "certainly help to mitigate forces that are distributed by impact to the skull and the intracranial cavity and the brain," said Kevin Guskiewicz, a professor of sports science at North Carolina and an expert on football helmets.

VERONA, Miss. (AP) — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Glen, Miss.-based Triple P Farms Inc. for four safety violations.
OSHA has proposed penalties of $73,500. The company has 15 days to appeal.
OSHA said Tuesday it began an inspection in February after a worker had both legs amputated when his foot got caught in a baling machine as he attempted to clear cardboard that had jammed at a business in Verona.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Rotting teeth. Diseased lungs. A corpse of a smoker.
Nine new warning labels featuring graphic images that convey the dangers of smoking will be required by the Food and Drug Administration to be on U.S. cigarette packs by 2012. Other images include a man with a tracheotomy smoking and a mother holding a baby with smoke swirling around them.